My sitcom-worthy walking holiday
It was a packaged tour organised by HF Holidays, a co-operative set up as the Holiday Fellowship in 1913 by Thomas Arthur Leonard, a non-conformist social reformer. He wanted to save factory workers from the fleshpots of Blackpool by encouraging them to take walking holidays instead. A great believer in the improving effects of the great outdoors, he was a strong supporter of the National Trust and was also involved in setting up the Youth Hostel Association and the Ramblers' Association – a bit like Robert Baden-Powell, except without the links to African colonialism or Hitler Youth. Leonard was also a supporter of the Independent Labour party, a staunch pacifist and, towards the end of his life, a member of the Society of Friends.
Not my cup of tea, then, but HF Holidays is now a broad enough church to accommodate sybaritic non-believers. Well, up to a point. I asked my mother-in-law if I could bring some wine, but was told this wouldn't be in keeping with the slightly frugal, ascetic atmosphere. We were staying in an hotel in Alnmouth owned by the company, and meals were communal, with the 60 or so guests sharing tables and expected to chat to each other while selecting from a limited menu.
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The Sun
12 hours ago
- The Sun
We live in UK's most photographed street – tourists make our lives hell… they wander into homes like it's Disneyland
LOCALS living in Britain's most photographed street say they are now completely overrun with tourists who make their lives hell. Residents around Arlington Row in the Cotswold village of Bibury claim visitors trample on their gardens and peer through the windows and even walk into their homes as they take continuous selfies. 17 17 17 Some also claim the oblivious pic hunters have also knocked down walls in their cars, blocked their driveways and several of the endless stream of coaches even run people over. The village itself - once described by William Morris as "the most beautiful" in England - has reportedly seen an influx in interest due to online recommendations. Bibury previously hit the news in 2017 after social media users complained their photos of Arlington Row where photobombed by an "ugly little yellow car". It was subsequently vandalised, with repairs costing elderly owner Peter Maddox around £6,000. However, he had a defiant attitude and refused to move his bright-coloured car from outside his cottage, leading to a large fleet of yellow cars descending on the village in support. Opinions divided Mark Honeyball, 54, chairman of Bibury Parking Working Group, said the main problems in the village are coaches and the 'volume' of tourists. He said: 'We've gone from 10 to 90 coaches a day. We have seen a quadrupling of tourists coming into the village. 'The coaches are causing damage to the village, they are knocking over walls. "They are knocking over National Trust property, pavements and we have had to pay for enforcement in the village to stop them parking in the wrong places. 'We have had several incidents of bus drivers hitting people - they are just a nightmare and we are currently trying to ban them. 'Car tourists have increased as well and we don't have anywhere for them to park.' Bibury Working Parking Group is made up of Gloucestershire County Council, Cotswold District Council, the police and Bibury Parish Council, which recently made some recommendations to restrict access for coaches. As a result, Gloucestershire County Council Highways would be changing the layout of parking bays to stop coaches waiting on the B4425 next to the Swan Bridge in the centre of the village. Mr Honeyball added that he wants 'responsible tourism in lower volumes'. He said: 'The only people who want tourists here are the businesses. Everybody else is fed up with it. 'Tourists see themselves as number one and don't respect the village even to the extent where I have had people parking on my driveaway before. 'We have had people walking into the house here and asking if this is the hotel. 'First couple of times it was amusing, after that you can get quite angry and short fused even when people start parking outside here.' 17 17 17 Resident Jennifer Bowman, 50, works in gaming and said she 'loves tourists' but there is a 'lack of infrastructure' that needs solving. She said: 'Many of the people who are coming here are tourists and they don't know UK driving laws and regulations and you don't see any signs that clearly say 'no parking' - it is simply marking on the roads. 'The biggest frustration as a resident is that there are not enough recycling bins, trash bins and parking and there seems to be a lack of urgency to solve it even though tourism continues to increase.' Jennifer's partner John Diamond, 49, who works in tech, said they have had tourists peeking through their windows as their house is right onto the footpath. But he said they shut the blinds and carry on with the rest of their day - adding that they have got used to it. He said: 'You can't go and move to the prettiest village in the UK and not expect tourists - we knew what we were getting into when we got this house. Perhaps we didn't expect people to stop and peering quite as long as they do. He added: 'I don't think they [tourists] should be pushed away because we came here as tourists like pretty much everybody who lives here apart from a few who are generational residents. 'There is not much parking - we don't have a parking space with our house so we have to park on the street where a tourist would. 'In the summer we have had cars parking on these double yellow lines. You can't step out of your house without stepping onto a car.' Local Ella Illes, 22, said that sometimes tourists think Bibury is a "Disneyland" or a 'museum town'. 17 17 She added: 'Some people embrace them because it brings in a lot of revenue to the village because we don't have many shops around here but sometimes tourists can be quite invasive and intrusive on local properties. 'I had one instance of a family walking through my backdoor during breakfast time so sometimes they think that Bibury is a Disney land and a museum town. 'They treat it with respect but sometimes they don't and they will wander into houses and throw rubbish on your floor and throw it in your garden. 'Some locals like the tourists but not the amount we get about up to 10 thousand a day sometimes and they come from all corners of the globe.' Lady Anne Evans, in her 50s, who has lived in the village for 25 years, runs a a café, shop and tearoom called Eleven. She said Bibury is an 'international' heritage site adding that the 'key' is to manage the needs of residents and tourists. Mrs Evans explained that parking in the village has been a problem since she moved in but has increasingly got worse. 'The villagers don't own the village but it is important that we continue our lives unhindered everyday but equally so people are very welcomed here,' she said. 'It is a privilege to be able to be the curators and guardians of such an incredibly important location. 'It is important that residents can continue their everyday lives unhindered and businesses continue and then the visitors who come are accommodated - but they need to have parking. 17 17 17 'This has been going on for 25 years but has got increasingly worse and I think that's because of social media.' 'You are not going to be able to stop people so you have got to accommodate them.' Lorraine Spackman, 53, who works at the local shop Eleven said she absolutely loves tourists. She said: 'We totally embrace them. 'With parking there is a system in place when it comes to coaches where they drop people off for an hour to visit the village. 'Arlington Row is such a beautiful iconic spot so it's always going to bring lots of tourists.' Lorraine remembers Mr Maddox's yellow car. The word "move" was scratched into the bonnet of the Vauxhall Corsa, which was parked outside his cottage in Arlington Row. 'He used to park at the top of Arlington and then everybody turned up with a yellow car just to make a point and show support,' said Lorraine. Locals said that Mr Maddox, now 90, still lives on the famous street but is currently in poor health and that the yellow car has since been sold. 17 17 17 Jason Collard, 38, a builder in Bibury, said his grandparents used to live in one of the cottages on the iconic Arlington Row. He said: 'I suppose if you lived here and you put up with it every day it would make it a bit annoying. 'When you ask them to stay off the grass and you need to put signs on your grass saying 'stay out of the grass' makes it a bit annoying. 'But this is part of history and people come from America, Japan, China to see this. 'It's got its good days and bad days. When it's busy it gets really busy. 'Most tourists just take pictures really.' The landscape and the history attracted influencer Giulia Cotigliana who came across Bibury on Pinterest, Google and Instagram. Giulia Cotigliana, 34 said she didn't find Bibury busy but added that arriving earlier is the trick to avoid large groups of tourists. The influencer from Italy said to feel like she was in a movie while visiting the village. One local said: ' We are packing up to go on holiday and escape the tourists.' 17 17
BBC News
18 hours ago
- BBC News
Ambleside's Wray Castle restoration under way
Work is under way to restore a Gothic Victorian castle with links to Beatrix Castle in Ambleside, Cumbria, was built in the 1840s and has been closed for conservation work to renovate the building and make it more resilient for the castle is due to reopen in 2027 in the hope of becoming a gallery and exhibition space housing the National Trust's Beatrix Potter watercolour collection in honour of the children's author holidaying there in Lee, general manager for the South Lakes National Trust, claimed the restoration was a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity. Donated to the National Trust in 1929, it has been a visitor attraction since 2011 following periods of being used as a youth hostel, a base for the Freshwater Biological Association and a training college for Merchant Navy radio of the castle's 64 acres (25.8 hectares) of grounds on the west shore of Windermere remain open to the public. The conservation work includes roof repairs, rewiring, fire protection upgrades and improvements to security and environmental restoration of the estate's Glasshouse is under way and the Footman's Lodge has already been renovated."This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to give Wray Castle the care and attention it deserves," Ms Lee said."While the castle building is closed, the wider estate remains open." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Times
19 hours ago
- Times
‘Stone stacks are against the Countryside Code — so I kick them down'
A couple of weeks ago a hiker called Stuart Cox — aka the Peak District Viking — achieved five minutes of fame when he posted a Facebook video showing him kicking down cairns on the Derbyshire hill known as Mam Tor. These weren't real cairns, raised over centuries as waymarkers. Rather, they were the stone stacks that tourists now leave in beauty spots and wild places, and Cox doesn't see his behaviour as vandalism. Instead, he considers their destruction to be an act of conservation. Some might say that building a pile of rocks and posting pictures of it on Instagram is a gentle, artistic endeavour that hurts nobody and is as innocent as building a sandcastle. These same people might have similarly benign opinions on the release of paper lanterns at sunset, the attachment of love locks to bridges or, indeed, the carving of initials into ancient monuments. Countryside lovers like Cox say otherwise. 'The craze really got going post-pandemic,' he says. 'It's all fuelled by social media, and as soon as one appears, more start popping up, and because the damage it causes isn't obvious, people see it as a harmless way of engaging with nature.' In the Peak District the National Trust has mobilised volunteers to demolish stacks made with rocks taken from the 16th-century Peak Forest Wall, which, it says, 'are not only impacting the history of the site, but also affecting the natural habitats of wildlife that live and feed within these ancient walls'. In the longer term it will disrupt the delicate balance of the landscape. • Read our full guide to the Peak District 'We are therefore asking visitors to please help us preserve this special place for future generations by refraining from creating stone stacks at Mam Tor and the surrounding National Trust land.' There are more than 170,000 pictures of rock stacks posted on Instagram, and you'll find people piling stones on almost any beach, lakeside, riverbank, mountaintop or viewpoint within easy walking distance of a car park. Conservation authorities from northern Norway to South Africa are unanimous in their condemnation. In Yosemite National Park in California rangers have asked visitors to dismantle any unofficial cairns they find, and in Queensland, Australia, the construction of a rock stack has been classified as vandalism since 2022 under the Nature Conservation Act. Park rangers can issue fines of up to £336. In Iceland rock stacks are known as feroamannavortur — or tourist warts. The musician Flosi Porgeirsson says the beauty of a landscape created over thousands of years 'fades when each visitor leaves behind visible signs of their own ego'. The psychology behind the urge to stack rocks is complicated. Part of it is the so-called exceptionism we all experience when on holiday: the feeling that everyday norms do not apply. Part is the urge to impose order on nature as a form of control, and part is an animalistic urge to leave one's mark. And a lot is about social approbation — aka likes. 'There is no malice in it,' Cox says. 'Just ignorance. Rock stacks are generally built by people who aren't used to the countryside. Years ago, we had public information films like Keep Britain Tidy on the TV to educate us about the Countryside Code, but they've vanished and now entire generations are growing up with no idea of how to behave in our wild places.' It's not just the stack builders spoiling our National Parks, beaches and country parks. Disposable barbecues cause wildfires, failure to close gates imperils livestock, inconsiderate parking blocks access, and the so-called fly campers blighting the Peak District, the Lake District and parts of Scotland leave behind human waste, fire damage and, in some cases, even their camping equipment. Most insidious, though, is the litter. Despite criticism from residents and visitors, the Yorkshire Dales National Park maintains a no-bins policy in the vain expectation that tourists will take their litter home. On Scotland's North Coast 500 tourist route, the Facebook group NC500 The Dirty Truth reports on matters that the marketing people would rather you didn't see. • 18 of the most beautiful places in England In a letter to the Northern Times, the resident Davide Khalil from Sutherland explained how he had erected a sign outside his village asking NC500 tourists 'to please bury their poop' in the hope that they would 'do the courtesy of properly disposing of their excrement' as it was causing a public health problem. The solution is as much education as legislation. Public spaces protection orders (PSPOs), under which those causing a detrimental effect to our wild places can be fined, are only effective when authorities have the manpower to police their area. Perhaps one way of persuading visitors to cherish our wild places might be a rural version of the hugely successful Two-Minute Beach Clean, in which visitors to the seaside are invited to spend just a couple of minutes litter picking, with the benefit coming from the cumulative effect. The other might be to bring back Joe and Petunia, animated stars of the 1970s public information campaign. Only four films were made, but in each the protagonists ably demonstrated exactly how not to behave in the outdoors. In the episode dedicated to the Countryside Code, the pair traipse across a field of crops, leave gates open, break glass, scatter litter and let their dog Bingo 'have a lovely time playing with those sheep'. Many watching the cartoon today might recognise themselves in Joe and Petunia. All that's missing are the rock stacks. How do you feel about stone stacks? Share your views in the comments • Be considerate to those living in, working in and enjoying the countryside• Leave gates and property as you find them• Do not block access to gateways or driveways when parking • Be nice, say hello, share the space • Follow local signs and keep to marked paths unless wider access is available • Take your litter home — leave no trace of your visit • Do not light fires and only have barbecues where signs say you can• Always keep dogs under control and in sight • Dog poo — bag it and bin it in any public waste bin or take it home • Care for nature — do not cause damage or disturbance • Check your route and local conditions • Plan your adventure — know what to expect and what you can do • Enjoy your visit, have fun, make a memory
